Life and Legacy
by phoenixphreek
Summary: Wanda Maximoff faces many problems. She doesn't know how to function being the hero with tremendous power that has done horrible things. She looks to the past for a solution. She looks to the woman who did it before: Jean Grey. WARNING: AVX Spoilers
1. Chapter 1

The Scarlet Witch shot one last hex blast from her hand that connected right on the chest of the last conscious thug. His body hit the ground, surrounded by the other bodies of the other men she had already defeated. She walked over to the crouched person she had just saved. He was in a fetal position up against a building wall.

"It's okay," she said calmly as she crouched down next to him. "Those men are gone. You're safe now."

"Safe?!" He yelled angrily, turning to face her finally. His eyes, nose, ears and mouth were all double the size of a regular human's while his head was the regular size. He was a mutant. His outburst was so sudden that it jolted Wanda and she fell back and onto the pavement. "How many times do you think I've been jumped?! There's not a super hero handy to step in and save me every time."

"I—I'm sorry. I know being a mutant can be difficult," Wanda said softly. "But we're trying to fix things. It will get better."

"It didn't have to get worse!" He continued to yell as he got to his feet. "I was normal before! Before you and that Messiah girl did whatever it is that you did! You made me like this! You made me a freak that everyone hates!" He turned and ran away. Wanda watched speechless as he disappeared into the busy New York streets.

_You would think I'd have a comeback for that by now. He's only the thirteenth new mutant to tell me the similar tale; that I ruined their life by reviving the mutant race. _It was later in the day now; the sky was beginning to turn dark. Wanda was flying over the Brooklyn Bridge. It was crowded with a bunch of cars heading both ways. It was normal. _Time was, they hated me for doing the exact opposite. And those people still hate me for muttering those three damned words, even if I have undone the problem that they created. So what have I done other than double the amount of people that hate me? I feel like I can't win... but you know all about that feeling. _

Wanda peeked out from behind the tree she was standing behind. It was fairly dark out now and the shadow cast by the leaves above her hid her from sight. She stared in through a window of the large building a couple yards in front of her. There were two kids in the large room she was looking at. One boy had stretchable arms that were wrapped around the other boy with four arms that he was using to pry off the other's arms. They were fighting; playfully: rough housing. Wanda watched for minutes before turning to walk away. As she walked through the entry way of the gated yard she glanced at the stone sign in the ground. "Jean Grey School for Higher Learning," it read. _I guess things aren't all bad though. _

It was fully dark out now. The streetlights and lights peaking through the windows of the surrounding buildings were all that lit the way as Wanda walked on the sidewalk of a New York street. It wasn't busy now. Wanda had already hexed her outfit into regular street clothes, as if that would make her unrecognizable. _You know that kid that found me the other day? The one that lost her powers on that awful day and was further enraged with me that she didn't get them back when new mutants started erupting? _She stopped at a crosswalk. She looked to the right and saw a couple of people grouped at the bottom of a stoup talking; and to the left she saw no one. She turned to the left and continued walking. _I pulled some strings with people I know at SHEILD and found out she used to have the ability to feel the exact feelings of any person she came into contact with. After screaming at me for one hundred and eighty six seconds straight and storming off, she bumped into my arm. She stomped down the street just as angry as she was before. _The door of a house she was walking next to burst open and two people immediately came into sight. There was a woman, standing in the doorframe. In front of her, on the porch effectively, was a man about 7 feet tall, wider than normal and his skin was a dark green all over. She had pushed him out of the door.

"You're not the man I married! You're a—a—a freak!" She screamed.

"Honey—" The door slammed shut before he could say another word.

_I never was a fan of irony. _

She was awoken by a knock on her bedroom door the next morning.

"I apologize Ms. Maximoff," Jarvis' voice came from the other side. "You have visitors. They insisted."

When she was dressed in her suit and sitting in the Mansion's meeting room Jarvis returned to her.

"Your guests mam," he said. In walked behind him Psylocke and Rachel Grey. _And the irony continues. _ "Do let me know if you all need anything," Jarvis said as he left the room.

"Hello," Wanda said, putting on the best smile she possibly could. "How can I help you all?" She was trying to remember every trick her father ever taught her about shielding your mind from telepaths. _If she knew… Well, it would be embarrassing._

"Isn't that a loaded question," Psylocke rolled her eyes.

"What brings you here today?" Wanda rephrased.

They both looked around the room. They eyed the pictures on the wall, the table settings, and the fine décor. Wanda knew what they were thinking. It was the same barb so many X-Men before had thrown at her before. _"She gets to be Avenger?" _They stood across from where Wanda sat at the table.

"Our powers are on the fritz," Psylocke said. She was staring directly at Wanda but the Scarlet Witch felt more like she was staring through her.

"They're weaker. Harder to control," Rachel spoke. Her eyes were softer; kinder.

"My katana is looking more like a steak knife."

"And I'm having to concentrate to even read minds," Rachel elaborated. _That's a slight blessing, all things considered. _

"I'm sorry. I'm not certain how this one's my fault," Wanda said, looking back and forth between the two of them sympathetically.

"What exactly did you and Hope do to the Phoenix Force?" Rachel asked. There was a slight tone of offensiveness starting to rise in her voice.

"I'm… I'm not exactly certain." _Did she read my mind already? Without me noticing?_

"Of course you aren't," Psylocke snapped.

"I'm trying to find out. I'm researching, doing everything I can."

"What we do know is that you said 'No More Phoenix' and the last time you 'No More' of something ninety percent of that something was no more," Psylocke said.

"And we also know that it is believed by many that the Phoenix Force is, or was, the nexus of all psionic energy," Rachel finished.

Wanda paused for a moment. Her thoughts raced. "So you believe Hope and I might have damaged your power by damaging the Phoenix?"

"You might have damaged the power of every psionic in the universe," Rachel corrected her.

"So fix it. Find out what you did and fix it," Psylocke spoke shortly. _Add it to the list, shall we? _

Deep in space the creature once known as Brio of Life awoke. She felt a rumbling from outside her prison. She at once remembered her last living memory. She saw her fellow Gods each being blasted with massive amounts of energy from the giant Galactus. She watched him squeeze the life out of the innocent Antiphon. That's when she attacked. She flew towards the World Devourer. As soon as she was in arm's reach she was grabbed by the throat. Galactus' massive hand clenched her throat tightly before a blast from his eyes hit her square in the face. Everything went black. The memory angered her. She looked around her current setting. She was completely surrounded by a metallic material. It was dark except for one small circular window letting a blue light in. She remembered her power. It was so long since she used it. She could feel how long she had been dormant. It angered her further. She blew energy outward in every direction creating a sphere around her that echoes her spherical prison. The energy tore through and decimated the metal around her before dispersing. She found herself floating in space, surrounded by several prisons identical to the one she had just escaped. She flew over to the one closest to her and looked through the window. She saw Diableri of Chaos still and lifeless. She shook her head in defiance before looking over at another prison. She flew to it and through window saw another lifeless God. She looked off in to the distance and she saw the lifeless bodies of Aegis and Tenebrous floating. Her anger grew and grew with each discovery. She screamed, loud and shrill and her voice echoed through space.

Wanda returned to her bedroom at the mansion to find a letter Jarvis must have put on her desk. It said only "Wanda" on the envelope in handwriting she immediately recognized. She reluctantly sat at the desk and opened it.

_"Hey,_

_ I'm half convinced that Tony should fire Jarvis. I mean what kind of butler can't deliver letters? Because this is like the sixth or seventh I've wrote you and I haven't heard anything from you. So let me just give you the jist of those letters. They go something like: Hi mom, I miss you, how are you, I haven't seen you in a while, I heard about the X-Men/Phoenix catastrophe thing, heard you did well, I'm proud of you, etc. The other half of me thinks that Jarvis has assisted the Avengers for like ever so he can't really be that bad at his job. But that thought process leads to the possibility that you have read all my letters and have chose not to respond, which is a lot more depressing so I tend to avoid that one. I don't know why you would do that… But anyways, I miss you. And although Tommy is way too stubborn to ever admit it, he does too. So it would be awesome to see or hear from you soon. Here's to hoping. _

_ Love,_

_ Your son_

_ Billy"_

With her elbows resting on the desk she dropped the letter and crashed her face in her palms. _It's the seventh. _She pulled a drawer on her desk open and looked down at the other letters in the same handwriting. She sighed deeply as she added the new one and shut the drawer. _It's not that I don't feel bad; I do. It's just… I think it's better this way. _An alarm in her room went off at that moment. She turned to look at the red flashing light on her wall. _Avengers Assemble. _

Brio soared the space at an incredible speed. Her head veered from left to right. She glanced at every planet, every star, every corner of dark space she passed. She couldn't find it. She never slowed her pace, never slowed her search. Her mind again danced through her ancient memories. In the beginning they found each other. They were both alone with the stars. It was the first life Brio had found in this new universe and without knowing for sure she believed she was the same for it. Her memory froze as she looked at it; she put it on pause. She stared at its fiery depths, its even deeper eyes, its vastness. She was in awe of the Phoenix. As her memory continued she saw the two of them flying through space together. They destroyed stars and made stars. They explored countless planets. Even after Brio had found the others that would come to be called the Proemial Gods, she always returned to the Phoenix. They always explored together. They did so for many years before they discovered Earth. Brio thought nothing of the planet. She saw it as another planet, humans as another creature. The Phoenix saw humans as an anomaly. She saw them as creatures possible of evolving and improving. When Brio was ready to depart from the planet the Phoenix would not leave with her. So she left alone. Angry as she was, she couldn't leave so easily. She watched the Phoenix from afar as it travelled the Earth. She saw it bond with a human and she was disgusted. The Phoenix leant a portion of its power to this tiny, insignificant, human and Brio could not understand why. She watched as the Phoenix' human became a God to it's people. That's when the Phoenix felt accomplished and left the planet. Brio was torn on whether or not to follow its one time companion or watch its human. Her mind was made when she felt the humans' psionic ability. She flew to it on Earth and observed it. It had telekinetic and telepathic abilities. The Phoenix gave it power. Brio was further disgusted but she also felt astonishment. She knew how to punish the Phoenix and also knew how to further the Proemial Gods' plans. But it was too late. She felt the call of her Gods'. The fight had started. She knew must go to them.

The Scarlet Witch returned home after her long day; a routine day for an Avenger. She began changing into street clothes. _I wonder if I have the power to stop time. _She finished and exited the mansion. The sun was just beginning to set. _It would be useful. Everyday it's something else: AIM, Hydra, Red Skull, my father. I don't have enough time for everything else. _She began her walk alongside the street. _I don't have time to research the Phoenix, or the psionics' problem, or you. _She had just made it down four blocks.

"Wanda?" a voice came from behind her.

She turned to see Steve Rogers looking at her. His kind face had a slight tinge of pity.

"Steve. Yes?" She wore her happy voice. Her voice she was all too familiar with putting on like a glove.

"You do this every night?" He asked, walking up to her.

"What? Have you been following me?"

"Only these last couple nights."

"I—"

"I'm only worried about you. You walk these streets every night, rubbing your face in all of these problems people like to blame you for."

"You say that as if they're wrong to blame me."

"I just don't know what good this does anyone."

She waited. She looked around. The streets were pretty busy. People passed them on the sidewalk. "I have to see these problems to remind myself to solve them."

"We both know that's not true. You could never forget even if you tried."

"I—"

"You're torturing yourself, I think, because the world has convinced you that you deserve it. You don't. You do that enough all by yourself." _Since when did he become telepathic?_

"I think out here. There are so many problems I need to solve. I think about them out here at night."

Steve smiled widely. "You can think at home Wanda."

"But—"

"Come on," Steve said. He stepped to the side and opened his arms widely. _Damn Captain America's charm. _She stepped forward and he turned and followed her back to the mansion.

When she returned to her room she at once walked to her walk in closet. _Maybe he was right though. _She walked to the back of her closet and pushed all the clothes on their hangers to one side, revealing the brick wall behind it. _Maybe tormenting myself wasn't the road to discovery. _She wrapped her hand with a hex blast. The pink energy lit up the dark closet. She pressed the hand gently against the wall. With a loud shifting noise the entire wall slid to the left, opening a dark walkway. _I haven't been back here to see you in some time any way. _She kept the energy around her hand to light the way as she walked down the narrow path. When the end was near she could see the candles lit in the distance. She dissipated the energy as she continued walking. She came to a halt in front of the dead end. There was a table up against the wall, where the candles rested. She looked over the mess she had made. There were dozens of papers, newspaper stories, ancient books, and scrolls all overlapping and mixed on the tabletop. She looked to the wall. There were at least fifty pictures hung and taped there. Each one of the same woman. There were some of her as a child, a teenager, an adult, and some of her tombstone. Wanda looked at each one, focusing on that red haired, green-eyed woman. _Hello again Jean Grey. _


	2. Chapter 2

_It's ironic really: we never knew each other that well and now we have so much in common. The majority of the time we did know each other, it was as enemies. Years ago I blindly followed my father as a member of his Brotherhood and we fought each other numerous times. We were the only women in our respective teams. Hard as I try I can't remember how many hex bolts I threw at you or how many times your telekinesis threw me around. _

_ We knew each other as heroes as well. We were both fighting in the thick of it against Thanos and Onslaught in those apocalyptic battles. We didn't really say much to each other though. Honestly, I was always embarrassed in those moments in front of you and the X-Men. The Avengers made Pietro and I feel welcomed and accepted after we worked for our father, but they weren't the ones we had wronged. You and your friends were. I never knew if I had your forgiveness. Now I know exactly where I stand with the X-Men. We had better relations when I was in the Brotherhood. _

_ When I heard what happened to you, the Phoenix taking over your body and killing all of those people, I couldn't believe it. I always looked up to you from afar. While I had been confused as what to do as a mutant, you always seemed to be morally admirable. I followed Magneto, you followed Charles Xavier. I thought someone must've been confused or misheard because for some time it wasn't conceivable to me that Jean Grey could have done those things. Then when I… When I lost control of my powers, killed my friends, decimated the mutant race, I could understand. _

_ Now I stand here as an Avenger who has done these horrible things. When your returned from the dead the X-Men welcomed you back, much like the Avengers did for me. You continued to fight for mutants; you continued to be a super hero. I don't know how. I don't know how you went on with all of this blood on your hands. I need to know. I need to know because there are a lot of people out there who hate and fear me and I can't give them a reason why they shouldn't. Super heroes are supposed to be the pinnacle of human—or mutant—morality… and I'm a murderer. How did you come back from that?_

_ I can't even trust myself, not fully. I could lose control again. There's so much I don't understand about my power. I don't think any person should have this much power inside of them. Could you trust yourself after everything you had done? Did you still fear what you could do? Did you fear you could lose control at any minute?_

_ My poor son Billy… He was gifted with powers similar to mine. The Avengers do worry about what he is capable of. And so I have isolated myself from him. I did it to protect him, but I'm not sure I'm doing the right thing. I assumed the less connection he had with me, the less they would fear or hate him. I can't claim to understand the lineage of the Grey-Summer family but from what I've learned while I've studied your life, you weren't particularly close with any of your descendants. Did you fear for them like I fear for Billy? _

_ Far as anyone around here knows you weren't gifted with precognition. Maybe you were just intuitive. We did have one significant encounter once. It was soon after the destruction of Genosha, and we believed my father was dead. Pietro insisted that I come. You were there with Xavier. We were standing among the wreckage and everyone else had wondered off, leaving us alone together. I was nervous. I had no clue what to say to you or if I should say anything at all. Then you said to me, "It feels like every day you and I have more in common." I assumed you were talking as mutants: as mutants we had more in common because as a people we had to go through the same things and as our race dwindled by default you have more in common with the minority left standing. I assumed you meant you were forced to have more in common with me. But now our race is as decimated as it's ever been and the longer I've lived the more I've grown into common ground with you. _

_ I've studied you as much as I can. The people that knew you best unfortunately are the ones that hate me the most. The X-Men: Scott Summers, Ororo Munroe, Logan, Hank McCoy, Kitty Pryde, Warren Worthington, Piotr Rasputin, Bobby Drake. I think I've found any publication that ever printed your name, or any of your aliases. There just guess work, speculation and reporting though. I don't know much about you as a person. If you go by what Xavier had to say you were the second coming; if you listen to what Emma Frost had to say you had a horrible temper. _

_ Different people say different things about your fate. Most people say you died. That the Phoenix brought you back for the umpteenth time and to stop it from causing its usual reign of destruction you killed yourself yet again. If that's true… If you did kill yourself as your final solution to the problem of having too much power, of fearing what you're possible of... Then I have my answer on how you dealt with it… And what you think I should do. Others believe that you moved on to a higher plane or realm to control the Phoenix or do whatever work the Phoenix does when it's not destroying everything. If that's true, then you are still out there somewhere. That's what I'm hoping. I need answers from you. _

_ I also have fear if that belief is true. If it is true, then I don't know what Hope and I did to you when we said, "No More Phoenix." I fear I may have killed you. That would be another dreadful irony: the one woman who could have helped me with my enormous amount of power, I might have killed with my enormous amount of power. I wasn't entirely sure where to stand when the Phoenix came. I think I sided with the Avengers more so out of default, because the X-Men didn't want me. But I hoped Scott was right. It didn't matter though in the end. When the Phoenix took over Hope… I was too scared for her to do anything other than get rid of the Phoenix. She's so young. I didn't want to see her travel down the same road the both of us did. And then banishing the Phoenix rebirthed the mutants… And it might have killed you… It was all kind of beautifully orchestrated in a way though. _

_ I don't know if you're out there or not, or if you can even hear me, but I need you Jean Grey. _


	3. Chapter 3

__AN: Thanks for all the love and reviews everyone! I hope I can keep it up

* * *

_What Steve doesn't know won't hurt him._ Wanda left the mansion late in the afternoon, checking behind herself many times to ensure she wasn't followed. _He had a point, I shouldn't torture myself every night... but maybe some nights. _She turned in to an alley and then took to the sky.

_Maybe—_Wanda was stopped mid-thought as she was hit right on her back. Her body flew downward and landed hard on a building top. Her body writhed in pain as she laid face down on the flat metal roof. Through the building she felt a body landing behind her. She ignored her pain and at once turned and stood to face her attacker. Before her was a creature, only slightly larger than her, that had golden metallic skin. She had no face except for her red eyes. She had some sort of wings coming from her back, arching upward and some kind of long red hair. Wanda had never heard of Brio of Life. The Scarlet Witch stood poised and ready to attack with a little bit of chaos energy hovering at her fingertips. Brio watched her intently, tilted her head as they made eye contact. Without a hint of her actions she flew towards Wanda with incredible speed. Wanda raised both hands at the form coming at her and blasted a hex bolt. Brio swerved her body, allowing the blast to just narrowly miss her, and continued her flight forward. She was so fast that she was standing before Wanda holding her up by her throat, before the mutant could even react.

"You worthless creature!" She yelled in a cold voice. She had no mouth and what she had of a face didn't move at all. It was as if her voice appeared from nowhere. "She blessed your insignificant existence with her power and you repudiate her!" With every word she spoke her grip on the Scarlet Witch's neck tightened. Wanda began to choke. Her hands moved to the golden hand suffocating her and failed to remove it. "You will mend your atrocity!" Wanda began to muster a hex blast and when she moved her hand in place to shoot it in Brio's face her body was thrown by Brio's one hand hard on to the rooftop yet again.

She breathed hard, regaining lost oxygen. She rolled her body to look back at Brio, looking down on her menacingly. "What are you talking about?"

"The Phoenix. My travels led me to discovering you tampered with its presence."

Wanda's hands massaged the sore skin of her throat. "I—I'm not sure what I have done."

"Your uncertainty does not matter to me. You will repair your wrongdoings."

Wanda slowly rose to her feet. "Who are you?"

"I'm a God!" she yelled, aggressively stepping closer to Wanda. "I am Brio of Life! I have been for the extent of this universe! I birth and destroy stars as I see fit! I have ruled and been worshipped by numerous races across the cosmos. I battle cosmic entities. I command more power than you can conceive."

"What do you want?" Wanda spoke slowly.

"The Phoenix. You have tampered with it, you shall undo it. If you don't, I will destroy your planet and it will be nothing to me."

"I—"

"I have heard enough of your voice, you lowly being," Brio interrupted her. She spread her arms wide and clasped them together in front of her creating a huge gust of wind immediately knocking Wanda down.

She watched from her grounded position as Brio flew into the sky. The further she got the larger her body morphed. The last point she was in sight Wanda estimated she was the size of Galactus. _Do you know her? Was she serious or all talk? _She began to fly back to the mansion as quickly as she could._ I hope any fellow Avengers didn't see her. I'd rather keep them out of this one: it's my problem. _She arrived to the mansion and when she walked in the Avengers sitting around their meeting table greeted her.

"We were just about to page you," Captain America said.

"A large creature giving off extremely powerful readings was spotted flying over Manhattan today," Ironman said.

Wanda sighed. _Oh well. _"I know. I saw it. First hand. How powerful?"

"High end cosmic levels," Ironman answered. _Guess it's time to go with the drastic plan. _

"What do you mean Wanda?" Steve asked.

"She attacked me. Cap, we need to call in the Unity Squad on this one."

"Why is that?"

"This is about the Phoenix, which means this is about mutants. And we need to make a trip to Shi'ar space. With Xavier gone, Havok is most knowledgeable in that department." _Where it all started._

"Wait, why are we going there?"

"We need the M'Kraan Crystal."

…

"I don't understand what you're trying to do," Havok said. The newly formed group of X-Men and Avengers were standing outside at a jet launch site: Havok, Rogue, Scarlet Witch, Captain America, Thor and Wasp. The sun had just set, leaving them in relative darkness.

"That's because I'm not entirely certain either," Wanda said. "What we do know is that the M'Kraan Crystal and the Phoenix Force are somehow connected and that my powers have done something to the Phoenix. So I'm hoping that if I can get my hands on the Crystal, using my powers, I can do something… Figure something out."

"The Shi'ar aren't too keen on just letting people waltz up to it," Havok told her.

"I know. This was my last resort and with Brio now threatening our planet I think we have to use it."

"Shouldn't we be stayin 'ere then?" Rogue asked. "Preparin to fight that thing?"

"The Avengers are readying themselves in case it comes to that but we should try to avoid confrontation with a being of that power," Cap said.

"I'm still not sure how cooperative the Shi'ar will be," Havok said.

"We have to try," Scarlet Witch insisted.

Havok nodded. "Alright."

"This should be fun," Wolverine said.

All of them turned to board the ship when a flash of lights appeared before them. When the lights settled Cyclops, Magneto, Emma Frost, and Magik stood before them. The Uncanny Avengers were at once poised for a fight.

"What are you doing here Scott?" Havok asked his brother.

"Stopping her," he said, pointing at Wanda. "What do you think you're about to do?"

"I'm not sure what you think is happening here—" she started.

"You're flying off to the M'Kraan Crystal to do some tampering," Emma said.

"That will inevitably have some effect on the Phoenix," Cyclops said.

"Wanda," Magneto said, stepping up, "We're afraid that anything you do might effect the new surge of mutants."

"Father, you know I wouldn't do anything to hurt our race."

"Not intentionally," he responded.

"But we've all seen what kind of damage you can do with or without intent," Cyclops said.

"There's more at stake here than you know Slim," Wolverine all but growled.

"Nothing else matters when it's our people at stake," Cyclops said sternly.

"You won't stop us from boarding this ship!" Thor said.

"I'll have to disagree with you on that Asgardian," Magneto said calmly. He raised an open hand and with the closing of his fist the jet just yards away from them crumpled inwardly and fell to the ground with a crashing noise as a pile of metal scraps.

"You fool!" Thor yelled, and flew hammer first towards Magneto.

He was feet away from the Master of Magnetism when a huge red optic blast hit him from the side and knocked him out of the air. That was all it took for the fight to ensue. Havok at once blasted Emma Frost just as her hand was moving to her head. His cosmic blast sent her body flying, stopping her before she could assault them telepathically. Wolverine of course lunged at Cyclops, who was all too expecting. He ducked and rolled the mutant's tackling body and sent him hurdling forward. Rogue and Magneto made sympathetic eye contact before she ran forward with a swinging fist. He threw up a force field that took the blow. Captain America saw Magik taking aim at Wanda and quickly threw his shield, connecting right on her stomach. Scarlet Witch watched in horror. _This isn't what I wanted. _She looked around, trying to see something, trying to find a solution. _I don't want to fight any of them. _Cyclops had just blasted the persistent Wolverine a long distance away and then turned to see Wanda standing there. His hand went to his visor as he took aim. The optic energy flew from his eyes in a straight line towards her. She turned just in time to see it. She threw her hands up and before she closed her eyes all she could see was red.

She didn't feel like she had just taken on optic blast. As crazy as she knew it was, she felt like she was still standing. _I think your ex-husband just gave me so much brain damage that I can't even feel pain anymore. _She was afraid what she would she opened her eyes. As she stood there she began to feel different. She didn't feel the cold, harsh New York wind against her skin. There was light behind her closed eyelids that didn't match the nighttime sky she was standing under moments ago. _Or maybe he killed me. _She slowly, warily, opened her eyes. She saw nothing but white. Just white. No sky, no buildings, no mutants, no Avengers, no walls; just white. _Wait, is this…_

"Yes."

The soft voice came from behind her and to her amazement it didn't startle her. She turned around to see the source.

"This is the White Hot Room." Jean Grey was standing before her.


	4. Chapter 4

Cyclops watched his optic blast fly through the air and off into the distance before dissipating. The Scarlet Witch was nowhere to be seen. He looked around for her with no success. He turned around and a hard fist to his cheek interrupted his search. He jerked his head back to see Alex standing in front of him. They stood frozen, looking at each other sympathetically. Scott returned the favor with a punch of his own. Havok didn't hesitate to punch him back in the stomach which Cylops retaliated with a hard knee to his brother's own stomach.

Emma had just got back to her feet when she saw Captain America's signature shield flying towards her face. Her body instantly transformed to diamond and the metal shield bounced off her face painlessly. The Captain was at once standing in front of her, punching her hard diamond face repeatedly until she came to and retaliated with a kick right to the bottom of the Super Soldier's chin.

Rogue was leaping left and right all over the place, dodging energy blasts from Magik. She was blasting relentlessly and Rogue's waning energy was leaving her with some close calls. She was just stalling though. Seconds later Wasp was hovering right next to Illyana in her miniature state. She blasted the mutant with her bio-electric shock right on the face. She grabbed her face in pain and screamed. She began swatting all around her head in an attempt to slap Wasp away. She was spinning around in place, swinging her hands incessantly. She turned and then found Rogue standing right in front of her. She had no time to react before she was punched hard on the jaw.

Magneto had stood up after an explosion of lightning erupted from the ground just mere feet in front of him. Thor was there again and threw Mjolnir right towards him. Magneto remembered how this dance went years ago and braced himself. He threw a magnetic force field around the hammer coming towards him. He at once tried to nudge the direction the hammer was flying to protect himself. Thor was standing yards away, also remembering their previous encounter. He focused on Mjolnir's ability and the mystic hammer absorbed the magnetic energy the mutant had surrounded it with. Magneto felt it happen but saw that he had done enough. The hammer's trajectory had changed slightly and he leapt further in that opposite direction. Mjolnir slightly missed his body. He looked up at the thunder God with a smug look. The look was cut short when the hammer hit him square in the back. His body was lunged forward and back on to the ground. He was picked up before he could stand this time. Thor had him by his shirt and punched him in the face repeatedly. Magneto struggled against him but the God's strength dwarfed his own. Off in the distance he felt Wolverine's adamantium form. He concentrated and brought the body flying towards them. Thor was still punching when Logan's body came crashing in to his from the side. He stood, only to again be knocked by Wolverine's flying body at the hand of Magneto.

…

Wanda had no idea how to react. Even after all the months of researching and thinking she wasn't prepared. _Am I dead? Is that really her? Has she heard me the whole time? _Her mind raced but she couldn't find words. **_No. Yes. And yes, I have. _**Jean's voice spoke inside of her head. It startled her.

"I'm afraid we don't have time for all of your questions right now though," this time Jean spoke out loud.

Wanda nodded slowly. "Why not? Because of that cosmic God?"

"Yes," Jean nodded. "Her name is Brio. Brio of life."

"You know her?"

"I know of her. She and the Phoenix were companions billions of years ago."

"Why is she looking for it now?" _Wait, is the Phoenix dead? _

"She intends to use its power to revive the rest of her Gods and increase their power to destroy Galactus and the other cosmic entities of our universe and take their place." **_No, you and Hope weakened it drastically but it's recovering. That's why I've brought you here. _**

"They were companions? Why does Brio wish to use it against its will?"

"She planned to betray the Phoenix years ago, before her defeat at the hand of Galactus. They traveled to Earth together and that was when the Phoenix first discovered humans. Brio thought we were worthless but the Phoenix was interested. She bonded with a human and left it the first mutant. Brio was appalled and wanted to punish it."

"So, the Phoenix… It did care about the mutants?"

Jean smiled. "Always. After what you did, M-Day, we have been watching and maneuvering from here. It was the Phoenix's power that birthed Hope's X-gene. I obviously tried too hard and put too much of myself into her. So I dialed it back when we created the next five. Things were moving too slowly though. That's when I sent the Phoenix to Earth."

"And everything went down hill…"

Jean nodded slowly. "That's why I didn't do it to begin with. I can control the Phoenix completely in here. Out there, my control fades. The plan was just to get the Phoenix to Hope. My mistake in her making her turned out to be our solution. So much of myself was in Hope that she could control the Phoenix. I knew that with the Phoenix' power of life and your power over reality, our people would return. Then everything went wrong. Tony Stark's machine scrambled any sort of control I had over the Phoenix. Then it ended up in my friends… and Emma."

"You orchestrated everything?"

"I tried to. As best I could from here."

"Why do you stay in here?"

Jean paused and sighed. "For many reasons we can discuss later. Now, we have work to do."

…

Cyclops bent over and spat up blood. He looked down at his currently grounded younger brother. Havok slowly crept up to his feet. He lunged toward Scott again.

"Stop!"

He listened to his older brother.

"Wanda's gone."

Alex knuckled some blood from his lips and looked around. He saw all of his teammates fighting all of the X-Men. Wanda was gone.

"How?" He looked back over at Scott.

"I don't know. She was there one second, and the next she was gone. I didn't know she could do that."

"She can't." They looked at each other confused.

They both simultaneously turned to their teams and yelled, "Stop!"

They did. Everyone looked over at them questioningly.

"Wanda's disappeared somehow," Havok told them. They all looked around for her.

"Someone must have taken her," Magneto said.

"That cosmic baddie? Could she do something like that?" Wolverine said.

"Maybe," Havok shrugged.

"There's nothing left for us to do here. Magik, let's go," Cyclops said.

"No! Summers, you are—" Captain America stopped speaking as the X-Men disappeared in a flash of blue light.

...

"You said you brought me here because the Phoenix is weakened?"

Jean nodded. "The Phoenix is endless energy. You and Hope damaged it greatly but it will always regenerate. With Brio's threat on the Earth though we can't wait any longer."

"You can't be planning on giving Brio the Phoenix though. We can't let her use it."

"No. I will need the Phoenix if we want to stop her," Jean said.

"She could do it? Destroy the Earth?"

"She could."

"Our friends… the heroes. They couldn't stop her?"

Jean shook her head. "I don't know. They have a habit of surprising though."

Wanda smiled.

"But we can't just rely on them. We need to restore the Phoenix to its full power."

Wanda nodded in agreement. "Alright. What do we do?"

"Do your remember when you restored Rictor's power?" Wanda nodded. "You didn't cast a spell, you simply found your spell in him and removed it." She stepped so she was standing directly in front of Wanda. She raised her hands, palm up, and a small fiery Phoenix appeared above them. "Do the same thing again."

Wanda nodded again. She held her hands out on either side of the Phoenix in Jean's hands. _I got to touch Rictor when I did it the first time. __**You can do it anyway. Just concentrate. **_She did. She stared at the fire in the bird shape. It moved and danced in place above Jean's hand. _No more Phoenix. No more Phoenix. _She repeated her spell in her mind as she looked for it in the bird's fiery depths. _Found it… _She fixated her power on destroying her own spell. _Got it. _No later than she thought those words the Phoenix grew larger and brighter. It moved and danced in place until it flew out of Jean's hands and up above them. It flew back and forth quickly in the white space above them. **_Nicely done. _**

…

Havok was sitting in the car as they headed back to the mansion. He had a small circular device in his hand. It was illuminating a hologram of Gladiator Kallark, Emperor of the Shi'ar.

"This is an inopportune time Havok," Gladiator said.

"I'm afraid it's an emergency." He paused until Gladiator nodded. "A friend of ours went missing. The last thing she was planning to do was go to the Shi'ar to see the M'Kraan Crystal. So I was just wondering…" he trailed off as Gladiator face changed into a shocked one. "What? What is it?"

"The M'Kraan Crystal was stolen from us earlier today," he said.

Havok's shocked look matched the Emperor's. "Who could possibly take the Crystal from you?"

…

****The room then began to shake violently like an earthquake had erupted. Jean and Wanda both look around confused while trying to stay on their feet. The White then began to fade to black. The Phoenix flight pattern was stopped. It began to fly backwards opposite of the direction it was facing. It began to fade in the same direction.

"What's happening?" Wanda nearly yelled.

"We're under attack. The M'Kraan Crystal's energy must be being tampered with."

The next instant Jean and Wanda were both standing on a large asteroid in the middle of space. Above them was Brio in her large state. She was gripping tightly on the M'Kraan Crystal with one hand. Purple light was erupting from the crystal between her fingers. Just in front of her was the large and restored Phoenix Force.

"Thank you," Brio said down to the little mutants.


	5. Chapter 5

AN: SORRY for the delay. I've been moving and starting classes back. Hope this update is worth the wait! Only one more after this one!

* * *

The Phoenix Force and Brio collided into each other. The collision resulted in a loud explosion of fire and energy. The bright light illuminating from the explosion hid them from the sight of the mutants beneath them.

"What's happening?" Wanda asked Jean.

"I'm not entirely sure. Brio must know how to channel a cosmic energy that disrupts the M'Kraan Crystal and the Phoenix's connection. She used that to drag us out of there."

"And now she's trying to beat the Phoenix into submission."

"And then possess it's power," Jean stopped and her face became stern looking into the bright energy and fire in the space above them. "I can't—I can't control it."

"Because your outside of the White Hot Room?"

She nodded. "Even then I can usually exert some control over it. Whatever Brio did to pull us out of there has damaged our mind too. It's just too chaotic right now."

Another loud crack echoed through space and another huge wave of fire and energy erupted between from the two cosmic giants' battle. Wanda looked up at it and then back to Jean. She was she still concentrating. _I feel so helpless. __**There's nothing you can do. If you got involved between those two you'd get killed. **_Wanda nodded. The Scarlet Witch began to look around. The space around them had metal spheres floating. She looked at them hard. She could see what seemed to be windows on them. She looked around more and saw two giant, still bodies. One was almost the color of Brio, the other was black. _Where are we?_ Jean looked down from the fight and discovered everything Wanda just had. **_The prison of the Proemial Gods. _**Wanda was shocked. _Brio's Gods? _Jean nodded. **_She was apparently not planning to waste any time. _**She looked back at the battle above them.

"The Phoenix is slowly recovering from Brio's tampering. Once it has, I can control it. Then you and I put Brio down," Jean said.

"How long will that take?"

Jean's face again contorted in concentration as she tapped back in to her telepathic connection with the Phoenix. "Minutes, maybe."

_What can I do? __**Just be prepared. **_

That's what she did. She calmed herself, honed her energies, focused on her powers: prepared to fight a God. Jean relentlessly tried to control the mind of the Phoenix. Above them bright flashes and loud cracks became constant. Every new eruption of fire and energy stretched out further around them into space than the one before it.

"Got it!" Jean yelled! No later then she did, the Phoenix Force appeared from behind the explosions and flew towards the mutants. It flew right into Jean Grey. Her eyes whited over, her body levitated and a bright fiery Phoenix raptor emerged all around her.

"We're ready," she said down to Wanda.

"You're naïve." Brio of Life floated above the asteroid they stood on, the smoke of her battle dancing in the space behind her. Her shrill voice rang in their ears.

Both of the mutants looked around them. Sphere prisons were being shattered left and right. Giant gods were appearing from behind the shredded metal. The two freed ones awoke. The newly freed ones laughed and cheered at their revivals.

"The Phoenix was always simple minded and careless. It had no clue or care that it was emitting enough of its energy to revive the Proemial Gods. Its fires' reached their corpses, reignited their lives and revived our mission." Destruction surrounded them. The Proemial Gods were flying around in every direction, crushing asteroids, blasting stars, and crashing into planets. "I will take the Phoenix from your lifeless corpse," **_On my count._** "and share its power," **_1._** "with my brethren so we can," **_2._** "reshape this universe." **_3._**

Jean and Wanda both aimed their hands up at the giant above them and blasted; Jean with cosmic fire and Wanda with hex blasts. The abrupt assault startled her and knocked her back slightly.

"You will pay for that!" She screamed. "Diableri!" Seconds later one of the gods, Diableri of Chaos, appeared in front of her. "Travel to earth and destroy it!" The two mutants were helpless to stop the blue giant from flying away at an incredible speed. "Your people, the Phoenix' people, will burn!" She ended her statement with a hard downward swing of her fist. The two women leaped out of the way just before her fist cratered the asteroid where they were once standing.

"We have to help them! We have to warn them!" Wanda said.

"I can contact Scott."

"From here?"

Jean nodded. "But it would take my concentration for a moment. I would be useless to help you here."

"I can handle myself for a moment. Do it."

Jean threw a telekinetic force field around her body and her mind reached out to her old love. Even after her departure so many years ago, their psychic rapport lived on.

Scarlet Witch ran far from Jean in an attempt to take Brio's attention from her. She blasted a couple of hex bolts up at her every couple of steps. Brio's floating form followed after her. She again brought her arm down hard on the asteroid. Wanda barely leapt out of the way in time. She turned to the giant's grounded hand and shot a hex blast at it. Brio yanked it back quickly.

…

A moment ago Cyclops was sitting in a room with Emma Frost and Magneto. His mind was present in their conversation. Now his mind had him standing on a beach. The sun was just setting. The waves were calm. He knew this wasn't some daydream. He was familiar enough with telepathy to know this. He looked around for the psychic responsible but he was currently alone. Then Jean Grey slowly began to appear.

"Jean?"

"It's me Scott," she said when her form was completely clear.

"What is this? What's happening?"

"The earth is in danger. I needed to warn you."

"Is it Wanda? Has she—"

"No. There's something coming."

"Emma read one of the Avengers earlier. Is it that cosmic thing that was here?"

"No, but one of her comrades. He's just as dangerous."

"We'll stop him," Scott nodded.

"You need to tell the other heroes, the Avengers."

He sighed. "We're not exactly seeing eye to eye right now."

"There's too much at stake."

Scott didn't speak.

"I know you'll do the right thing. I have to go back now."

"Back?! Back where?... Jean?"

"Jean?" Emma said. Scott was back in the room with his X-Men.

He looked around at them. They looked back at him just as confused. "We need to go."

"Where?" Magneto asked.

"Avenger's Mansion."

…

Wanda struggled to get free of Brio's grip. She was being held tight in the golden giant's hand. She couldn't even budge, as Brio tightened her grip. Her entire body was being crushed. She screamed. Brio laughed. A huge blast of fire then blind-sided the god in her face. She was startled and flinched in pain, instinctively releasing the Scarlet Witch. As the mutant levitated herself Jean Grey flew next to her. As Wanda looked to her she nodded. Both women then flew in opposite direction of each other, both circling the giant between them. They both blasted at her with their respective powers as they flew circles around her. Brio lost her resolve in pain and annoyance for moments before she retaliated. She swung her large tail in random motions until it collided hard with Jean. Her body went flying at the impact. Wanda watched and as she braced herself to fly off toward her she was hit full body by a massive energy burst from Brio. Her body too went flying, in the opposite direction.

Brio flew towards Jean's body. She found it only slightly conscious. She grabbed it with her large hand and squeezed hard. Jean screamed before a Phoenix raptor erupted all around her body. The flame burned the God and she was forced to release her. Jean wasted no time blasting her face with a huge beam of fire and telekinetic energy. Her huge body flew backward and collided with an asteroid, shattering it. Jean looked around for Wanda and found her body barely moving far off in the distance. She flew towards her as fast as she could. When she was feet away she grabbed her telekinetically and flew them both to an asteroid. When Wanda's body was placed gently on the ground beneath her she slowly stood.

"Are you okay?" Jean asked.

"Yes. Or I will be."

"You will be dead." The shrill voice came from behind them. They turned to see Brio of Life standing feet from them, now in their size. She raised both of her hands to them and blasted white energy from them. Wanda instantly retaliated with a hex blast that collided with Brio's energy just feet in front of her. Pink met white in a wide explosion. The force threw all three women back. When the smoke settled both of the mutants looked up to see Brio standing over them. She turned towards Wanda's grounded form. As she got closer Jean watched and as she bent over Wanda Jean threw her body back telekinetically. Jean got to her feet to watch the god's body fly backward off into the distance. When she turned around to approach the Scarlet Witch, she was already on her feet behind her.

"Do you have a plan?" she asked.

"I think so."

Brio's rising anger raised her to her feet. She screamed and flew at her highest speed possible back to her enemies. She found them in seconds, standing and speaking to each other. She traveled towards them and without warning flew in between them and punched Jean right in the face. She never slowed down as she continued flying; turning around and heading back towards them. Wanda had turned to face her and started blasting hex energy at her. Brio swerved out of the way of each one and collided into Wanda with her shoulder. The two crashed hard onto the rock beneath them. Wanda struggled to free herself from under the stronger being. Brio held her down easily. One of her hands found Wanda's throat and she squeezed it tightly. Jean slowly got to her knees. She rubbed her already bruised jaw. She saw Brio. She forced herself to her feet and flew towards them. She aimed towards Brio and blast fire in her direction. Brio heard this and turned to see. She raised one hand and blasted energy towards the fire. He blast tore through fire, causing it disperse outward in every direction. Jean saw this and barely threw up a force field in time to shield herself from the blast. She then focused on Brio's hand around Wanda's throat. She focused her telekinesis on pulling that hand off. Brio felt the force attempting to raise her hand. She pushed down against it. Her grip around Wanda's throat was loosened. She looked over at Jean and screamed. She continued to push down towards Wanda's throat. Her hand was still just centimeters above the skin. She raised her other hand towards Jean and before she could continue a hex blast came from beneath her and collided with her chin. Her weakened state allowed Jean to telekinetically throw her entire body off of Wanda. Wanda at once stood up and hit Brio with another hex blast. Jean flew next to Wanda and they both looked down at the now grounded god. They were all still for a moment. The next moment Brio was standing in front of them, her fist connected with Scarlet's stomach. She was too fast for Jean to retaliate before her other fist again punched her face. Wanda swung her own fist now, but Brio caught it in her hand and squeezed it. A loud crack erupted from Wanda's hand and echoed around them. Phoenix' attempt to push the god away from them was completely ignored by her strongly planted body. She laughed at the red head's failure and then her tail whipped around, knocking her feet out from under her. She hit the asteroid underneath them with a loud thud. Her free hand then grabbed Wanda by the waist and she lifted her up over her head. She held her there for a moment before throwing her down hard on the ground. She looked down at both of the weakened women.

"You are nothing."

**_Now!_**

Phoenix and Scarlet Witch held each other's hands and pointed their free hands at Brio of Life. Their intertwined hands were surrounded by a rotating swarm of Phoenix fire and Hex energy. The mixed energy coursed around their hands and then shot out of both of the women's free hand and collided with Brio. The fiery pink blast dispersed against her chest leaving smoke in its wake. Her body fell to the ground. The mutants released each other and stood over Brio. Her body was still: lifeless.

"It worked," Jean said.

Wanda looked at her sideways. "You didn't know that it would?"

She shrugged. "No. I just hoped."

"At least it's over." Wanda was still looking down at Brio. Jean's gaze had wondered up to the space above them.

**_That's over. _**_What? __**You meant to say 'that's over.' **__What do you mean?_

"Look up Wanda."

Scarlet Witch followed Jean's gaze upward. All around them were the Proemial Gods. There were several of them. All of them were staring down at the two tiny mutants.


End file.
